Derby Talk

Derby Talk is a forum for Pinewood Derby, Awana Grand Prix, Kub Kar Rally, Shape N Race Derby, Space Derby, Raingutter Regatta and other similar races where a child and an adult work together to create a race vehicle and a lot of fun and memories

My Pack just pulled our vintage track down from the rafters to use at promotional events. We would like to do some repairs to somewhat restore it. This track was used by some of our parents when they were kids. I will attach photos below. Thanks

A piece of History. That's quite a curve. It appears the damage is where the sections meet. Cut the end of the sections off, bring them together and you will be able to save all the original wood. I'd like to see some cars go down that track.

Wow your old vintage track looks to be very close in the construction type.. to the track I have that was home built sometime back in the early 60's .
It was also in very rough shape when i got it as well.. as it set in an old round top un-used for several years and pack rats chewed it up!

It was a labor of love to clean up and replace all of the old masonite top and lane strips on all the sections to keep the track as close
to original and as built in it's day.

a few pic's of the track:
My home made start gate that was an over kill.. with cars bouncing and shifting on the start.. rubber bumpers on the legs now help that some what!
Note: no stopping section is seen for my track!
The joining sections do not screw down like what's seen on your track!
My old track use's brackets for joining the sections together they are nothing more then metal bent in L shapes
with holes for long bolts with wing nuts to hold the sections together.
The old lane brain system seen in the pic's was not part of the track however it still works.
I will say that a masonite surface is not going to hold up over time as the wheels will brake down the masonite and you'll have flaking & chipping issues.

From the pic's of your vintage track it looks to be in a lot better shape.. then what i had to work with!
Wished I had a side view pic of my track .. as from your pic's your track looks to be missing the back set of legs and cross braces.

Speedster's suggestion of cutting the joining sections back.. and keeping the track surface wood as it is sounds like a money & time saver to me.
Best of luck with the repair and restoring the track back to it's former glory!